GROWING POPULARITY OF HEALTH INSURANCE AMONGST UK WORKERS

Health care is vital and through research and innovation it becomes possible for the health care system to provide better and new services. Recent investments in the health care technology like making the medical records electronic and care integration by constructing more medical homes are the latest attempts to move delivery care towards a more consistent and evidence based model. Nations today can spend more, as the health care community is consistently continuing to learn more each day about human health and health care conditions. Armed with this knowledge it is possible to expand the inventory of health care products, techniques and services available to address these conditions.

These efforts have not gone unnoticed by the UK workforce. In the 2016 Willis PMI Group Employee Benefits Index, Health Insurance has nudged Life insurance to the third spot and recaptured the second spot, evidence of its popularity. The index which studies in detail the employee attitude to benefits , bought under the scanner 1,197 part and full time employees in Great Britain, aged between 18-64. It was seen that 40% of these employees ranked health insurance among the top three favorite benefits as compared to the37% in 2015.

Apart from the insurance, the rising awareness has seen an increase in the health screenings too, placing it on the fourth place on the index, alongside critical illness cover. Around 37% of the employees ranked it among the top three of their preferences- which is a 7% increase as compared to last year. Meanwhile other segments are seeing an increase, the once very vital childcare vouchers have seen a decline in popularity, with just 17% of the employees ranking them in their top three priorities as compared to the 19% of the employees in 2015. Though child care vouchers play a critical role in helping working parents, but the government's new Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme, which is set to be phased next year could be the prime cause for this decline.

Mike Blake, Director at Willis PMI Group, part of the Willis Tower Watson said, "The rise in popularity of health insurance is perhaps understandable with the media continuing its scrutiny of the NHS and its struggle to meet the demands of an aging and growing population"

"Although many PMI scheme members may not use their policy to make regular claims, knowing they can access healthcare treatments quickly and conveniently without having to rely on the NHS can offer considerable peace of mind."